the blog of LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange

Citizen dialog for transparent process

Saturday, 27 October 2012

Library open records request 2012-10-26

The most-organized open records response ever!
Well, that we've asked for, anyway.
Sure, sometimes local government bodies deliver a three-ring binder
of papers.
Sometimes they deliver a CD.
Sometimes they deliver on a USB stick.
Nobody ever delivered all of the above.
OK, I brought the USB stick and the scanner (not pictured),
but look at that CD lying on top of the really thick binder:
the CD contains everything that's in the binder,
and that saved us a lot of scanning time.

Thank you, Kelly Lenz, Patrick Spurlock, and Tom Gooding!

It will take a bit of time to process all this information; stay tuned.

Kelly Lenz, Library Director, Tom Gooding, Attorney
Left to right:
an extra item,
the four architect presentations,
the "bible" of what the new library should be (the thick binder and the CD),
and agendas, minutes, and board packets (the other two binders).
Picture by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
at South Georgia Regional Library, Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 26 October 2012.

I know of at least one open records request somewhere else that,
two years later and counting,

still isn't satisfied, for items that it's difficult to understand
how a certain local government can function if it doesn't have them
readily available for its own employees to reference.
And another about simple receipts that took six months to produce.
And another open records request for agendas and minutes, that,
more than a year later, that board is still stonewalling about.

Maybe it takes a library to deliver open records.
Maybe other local government bodies might want to take notes.

Here's the open records request that resulted in the documents pictured above.
You may wonder why it took them more than three days
to provide the information.
Nobody ever sent them an open records request.
Ever, in the memory of anyone now working with the library board,
or previous directors of the library.
So they had to figure out what to do.
Plus, as you can see, that is a rather massive array of records.

However, since I will bring a photocopier, library staff should not
need to make most copies. Please see lines 455-457 in H.B. 397.

Any documents that can be made available in PDF or other electronic
format will save everyone time and effort, since no photocopying will
be required. I will bring a USB stick for electronic copies.
Please see lines 532-547 in H.B. 397.

Also, please note that the new law codifies that providing
"access to records through a website accessible by the public"
is an acceptable delivery mechanism. Please see lines 587-588 in H.B. 397.